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Both U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, and his Democratic challenger, Kirsten Gillibrand, released new TV ads today.

Sweeney’s spot is a sort of quasi-attack ad.

It features a rehashed mix of negatives about Gillibrand from old ads (war profiteer, won’t release taxes, HUD scandal etc.) that appear over the sound of static, juxtaposed with positives about the congressman (pictures of him with veterans, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Az., etc.) complete with uplifting music.

The Sweeney ad also seeks to answer claims made in two opposition spots: That he voted in favor of his own pay raise (which is an automatic cost-of-living increase) and that he’s a “rubber-stamp” for President Bush.

Oddly, at the moment when the ad accuses Gillibrand of attacking Sweeney’s “family,” there’s a photo of him holding a baby, which I’m pretty sure isn’t his.

Gillibrand’s spot features Marcia Handelman, an elderly Brunswick resident who says she taught Gillibrand in high school in Troy.

(That would be the private school Emma Willard, a fact that isn’t mentioned here).

Mrs. Handelman, speaking straight to the camera, says she “just had to laugh” at Sweeney’s “latest attack ad.” She notes Gillibrand is a “fifth generation upstater, an experienced lawyer and is raising her family in Hudson.”

As she speaks, pictures of Kirsten (marching in a parade, with her son, Theo, and husband, Jonathan) flash on the screen.Â

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